This is forwared from another list. Ack!


Kevin
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Write unclearly 

It almost goes without saying that one should write clearly. But that depends. According to a new study, if your goal is education, you may not want to write too clearly. In one experiment, people read a short story by Mark Twain that was printed in a font that was either easy or difficult to read; the story was also presented as either a “Historical Analysis Study” or a “Short Story Study.” When read as a short story for enjoyment, the story was rated better in the easy-to-read font, but, as a historical analysis, the story was rated better in the hard-to-read font. In another experiment, while reading the same Twain story, some people were asked to furrow their brow, an action that has been shown to induce the perception of complexity. Among those who furrowed their brow, the story was rated better when read as a historical analysis, but worse when read for enjoyment. 
Galak, J. & Nelson, L., “The Virtues of Opaque Prose: How Lay Beliefs about Fluency Influence Perceptions of Quality,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (forthcoming). 
Kevin Lewis is an Ideas columnist

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/19/simple_steps_to_happier_politics/?page=2



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